Safety clasp



Oct..22,19 i29. E. c.vGRAssMANN l 1,732,267

SAFETY CLASP Filed Feb. 8, 1929 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 22, 1929 UNITED v STATES PATENT oEFlcE EDWARD C. GRASSMANN, 0F MAPLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO HARRY SCHICK, INC., A CORPORATION 0F NEW JERSEY SAFETY CLASP Application led February, 1.929. Serial No. 338,378. Y

This invention relates, generally, to improvements in safety clasps or fasteners for jewelry, such as necklaces, bracelets and simllar articles.

The invention has for its principal object to provide a novel safety clasp or fastener which is of exceedingly ysimple construction comprising but two separable and unitary elements, is neat in appearance, very easy to manipulate both when fastening and unfastening the same, and in which the separable elements have auxiliary guard means adapted to prevent complete separation of said elements should the same become accidentally disengaged from their normal mutually 1nterlocked relation.

The invention has for a further object to provide a clasp or fastener comprising separable male and female elements adapted to be formed from unitary sheetV metal stampings and having safety guard means which does not interfere with easy fastening or unfastening of the clasp as desired.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be clearly understood from the following detailed description of the same.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a top plan view'of the novel jewelry clasp or fastener of this invention with the elements in normal inter-locked relation;

Fig. 2 is a side view ofthe clasp illustrated in Fig. 1;

Y Fig. -3 is an end View of the clasp;

Fig. 4 is a bottoni plan view of the clasp, in partial disengaged relation to the female element; the male element being shown.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the flat stamping from which the female element of the novel jewelry clasp is formed; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the structure shown in Fig. 5 but with the spacing posts bent upwardly from the stamping preparatory to the final bending operation of the same.

Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the hereinabove described views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now to the said drawings, the

novel safety clasp or fastener comprises a unitary female element formed from a single flat stamping illustrated in Fig. 5. This stamping is so shaped as to provide a face or front plate 9, which is joined at one end by an end post 10 to a back plate section 11 and at the other end by an end post 12 to another back plate section 13. Back plate section 11 is provided at its free end with a wedge or key-stone shaped space or recess 14 which is adapted to cooperate with a similar wedge or key-stone shaped tenon or projection 15 kformed on the free end of back plate section 13. A pair of oppositely arranged lugs or spacer posts 16 are provided at the side edges of back plate section 11 and a pair of similar spacer posts 17 are provided at the side edges of back plate section 13.

In folding the female stamping so as to form the female element, the spacer posts 16 and 17 are bent upwardly at right angles to the inner surface of the stamping, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The back plate sections 11 and 13 are then folded over into parallel superimposed relation to the front plate 9, the metal of the end posts 10 and 12 yielding to permit this folding over operation. Tn folding over the back plate sections, the tenon 15 of section 13 is caused to enter the recess V111 of section 11. The free ends of the spacer posts 16 and 17 are moved into abutting relation withy the inner surface of the front plate 9 during the folding over operation. These lspacer posts serve to space the back plate sections at equal distances from the front plate, so that these back plate sections are in alignment and together form what in effect is .a continuous back plate. During the folding over operation the end posts 10 and 12 are caused to assumeva curvilinear shape as especially illustrated in Fig. 2.

Thus when the female element is completely formed, it comprises a unitary boxlilie structure having a front plate and a back plate arranged oneover the other in parn allel aligned relation and'spaced apart by posts 16 and 17 to provide an intermediate space or chamber, the end rposts 10 and 12 serving to secure the front and rear plates together. The end post 10 at the rear end of ico the female element may have a link 18 secured thereto, to which link one end of a necklace, chain, bracelet or the like, may be connected, or any other suitable means may be employed for connecting such articles to the rear end of the female element.

The separable male element of the' clasp or fastener comprises a substantially U- shaped member consisting of two laterally resilient arms 20 and 21` which Vare joined at their forward ends. Each arm is provided near the rearward or outer free end thereof with a notch or indentation 22 to cooperate with a post 17 near the front end of said female element. The free end portions of these arms are also provided with outwardly turned linger-pieces 23. Arm 21 is also provided with an eye-portion or ring 24 to receive the attachmentof one end of the necklace, chain, bracelet or the like, to be served by the clasp or fastener.

As will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 11 of the drawings, the male element can be assembled with 0r disassembled from the female element in only one manner. This manner is carried out by turning theV male element so that its longitudinal axis extends substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of thefemale element. The male element can then be moved either so that the post 12 passes into or out of the space between the arms 20 and 21 of the male element as desired.

Thus, in operation, assuming that it is desired to fasten the clasp, the male element is turned at right angles to the female element and the male element is then manipulated so that the free end portion of the arm 2O enters the space within the female element extending between end post 12 and spacer posts 17. The male element may then be moved so as to be in longitudinal alignment with the female element in which position the end post 12 is between thearms 20 and 21 and adjacent the junction of these arms as illustrated in Fig. 4:. The male element may then be thrust or moved directly into the female element. rlhe continued inward movement of the male element carries the resilient arms 20 and 21 into engagement with the posts 17 adjacent the outer end of the female element, the notches. or indentations 22 thereof arrive opposite said posts 17, whereupon the tension to which said arms 20 and 21 are subjected causes the same to spring laterally outward to thereupon engagesaid notches or indentations 22`with said posts 17, thus interlocking the male element with the female element to hold the former against withdrawal from the latter. If by any chance, the notches or indentations 22 should become accidentally disengaged from the posts 17 so that the male element is freed for outward withdrawal, the outward movement of said male element would carry the juncture of arms 20 and 21 into abutting engagement with end post 12, whereupon the latter arrests further outward movement of the male elementand thereby preventing complete separation of the same from the female element. f it is desired to separate the male element from the female element, the former must vbe' turned at right angles with respect to the latter and then moved until end post 412 leaves the space between arms 2O and 21.

and 21 engages one of these posts, the male member or element as a whole is firmly held against lateral cantingor shifting, thus reducing the likelihood of accidental separation of the lnotchedv arms 2O and 21 from operative interlocked engagement with said posts 17.

It will be noted that the dove tail interlocking of the'back plate sections gives the female element great strength not only in a longitudinal but also in a transverse direction, making it impossible for these sections to have relative movement in their common plane. As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is 1. In a device of the kind described, female member formed from a flat unitary stamping, said member comprising a front plate, end posts formed on the end of said front plate and extending rearwardly thereof, a back plate arranged in spaced parallel relation to said front plate, said back plate consisting of sections having port-ions in l'lO a back plate arranged in spaced parallel rela- I.

tion to said front plate, said back plate consisting of sections havingv portions in mutual interlocking relation, each of said sections being formed integral with one of said end of, a back plate consisting of two sections, each of said sections being an enlarged continuation of one or" said end posts, one of said sections having a keystone shaped recess and the other of said sections having a key-stone shaped projection conforming to said recess' in said irst section to thereby unite said sections together in longitudinal abutting relation, spacer posts Jformed on the marginal edges of said sections and projecting forwardly into abutting relation with the marginal edges of said front plate to thereby space said front and back plates in parallel relation, and a male element adapted to eX- tend into said female member, said male element having resilient arms to embrace an end post, and said arms having notches for interlocking With the spacer post of one of said bacltplate sections.

ln testimony, that I claim the invention set forth above I have hereunto set my hand this 31st day of January, 1929.

EDWARD C. GRASSMANN. 

